sneak peek: ashley helvey & miles pederson

Textile artist Ashley Helvey (who makes amazing felt area rugs) and Miles Pederson just moved into this apartment in Seattle, Washington, four months ago. Since the apartment is a rental, the couple decided to keep things simple with functional pieces that won’t require too much effort to move. Building their own furniture was the most efficient way to do this. They adopted many pieces from their previous apartment, turning an oversized work table into a magazine rack and stools into a bench. Ashley’s philosophy of decorating is just to focus on nice looking basics, and she says that overdecorating is “like wearing perfume to cover up odor — just keep it clean!” Thank you, Ashley & Miles! Special thanks to Kyle Johnson for the lovely images. —Amy A.

Image above: Bench shot with sheepskin throw and blue blanket. We found this loveseat frame on Craigslist and plan to refinish it. My friend Gabe Magana of Mid Century Mobler gave us some pretty detailed instructions on how to properly refinish it. Actually doing it has been the hardest part!

Image above: The bed platform was designed by our friend Suzanne Stephan who is an architect and artist. We wanted something to keep our mattress off the floor, and stepping onto this platform immediately creates a feeling of calm: time for bed and Teen Mom 2!

Image above: I designed the couch based around a cushion we purchased at Ikea, and Miles built it from spruce planks that we got at a lumberyard. The pillow is by MeS from Frozen Fountain in Amsterdam, an interiors shop that I went to when I was visiting Claudy Jongstra.

Image above: Our kitchen is where we spend most of our time. We love cooking and experimenting with whatever is in season. Recipe tonight: grilled fava beans and fresh halibut from Pike’s Place Market.

Image above: Coffee is the only thing that gets me out of bed when I wake up to yet another gray day here. Of all the coffee roasters in Seattle, Stumptown is my favorite, and it’s not even from Seattle; it’s from Portland! I prefer the Chemex to a French press because it filters out unwanted sediment and impurities and happens to look really nice.

Image above: These are all my finds from Value Village, a true Northwest treasure.

Image above: Miles designed this bench with some stools from our previous work studio that were too tall to be useful in our new space, so off with their heads!

Image above: This table was again repurposed from our work table in our old studio. We cut the saw horses down and found a beautiful slab of wood that used to be a door at a local shop in Ballard called Re-Store.

Image above: My new studio/workspace; smaller but just as cozy.

Image above: I purchased these from our dear friends Kristin and Shin at Iko Iko in Los Angeles. They got them on their most recent visit to Japan, and being a felter, I instantly fell in love with the woven, indigo-dyed industrial felt.

Image above: My wall of inspiration. I am always on the lookout for beautiful everyday objects: mops, rags, drying racks, fly swatters, spoons, etc. I have fun dreaming of ways to re-imagine these things, too; it’s a constant source for new design ideas.

Image above: Since we don’t have a proper bookshelf, we just have fat stacks of books everywhere.

Image above: Another great Value Village find! Artwork by Perry Lubin.

While I can appreciate the minimalism, this home just seems very empty to me. Maybe it’s the lack of window treatments and the blank white walls. I’m not advocating filling it up with useless junk, but this space feels cold to me.

i like minimalism, but still think there has to be something warmer in a room in order to feel comfortable. this style doesn’t do it for me. the touches of warm wood should cozy the place right up, but it doesn’t. doesn’t feel lived in. beautiful but cold.

the rocking chair is brilliant. And what I truly appreciate about their home is that the minimalism sets off the northwest pieces. I love beautiful wood and it is hard to incorporate into a typical “warmer” environment. This gives great ideas on how to do it.

All of the different textures are wonderful and do a good job of offsetting the minimalist attitude toward furniture. I adore the bold graphics of the front entry rug and am currently multi-tasking and searching for a similar one in another of my browser windows. Fabulous apartment!

This is lovely and shows you can be a minimalist without spending $8 grand on a chair. My bf is a carpenter and this does inspire me that he could definitely create pieces I’ve imagined and that they can look good even in raw form. The couch does look uncomfortable to me though but is still beautiful. My favorite pieces are your platform bed and your entry way bench. I’m inlove with the felt stools from Japan.

Wow, I can’t believe you’ve only they’ve only lived there 4 months! It is quite minimalist, but it can take a while to make space fill lived in at first. Also, glad to know I’m not the only one who finds Teen Mom 2 to be a guilty pleasure!

Oh, the stunning simplicity of it all! They are starting, of course, with a beautiful shell of a structure. You really don’t need much more, do you? That architecture of that apartment will never look dated, so let it shine!

I feel so validated. When I made my living room desk out of an old door, I got some interesting looks. Her philosophy of repurposing rawks, and I am am right with ya! Wonderful spaces. I will steal your bed idea….. ; )

So inspiring! Love it!! Value Village (or VV as I call it) is the best place, but shhhhh — we don’t want everyone to know ;-) Oh and it’s considered a pretty big faux pas to say “Pike’s Place”. It took me almost a year of being ridiculed by my native Seattle friends to learn that it really is just Pike Place Market.

What a beautiful home! I adore the sparseness, the beautiful things really get to stand out on their own (the stunning rugs, Pendleton bedspread, MCM eiffel chairs). The DIY roughness only makes it that much more wabi sabi. Bookmarking this to inspire myself to finish decorating my own home!

wow, what an amazing little home. if I knew how to be organized every second of my life, my home would look like this too. I love the rugs they have in their place and all the natural lighting and woods.. ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

I am in love with your house and how it looks like you lead your life. You must be calm, patient, and not too fussy according to how the house looks with an appreciation of history. I live in a mobile home (trailer) in a rural area in the US. I aspire to have an old house like yours one day with that quiet, comfortable lifestyle. You are very blessed. Thank you for sharing…Jill Lovely, RN – Jackson, Kentucky.

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